Insulation displacement contacts and electrical contact arrangements with insulation displacement contacts offer a simple solution for contacting a conductor sheathed with an electrically insulating material. When using insulation displacement contacts, the insulation sheathing the electrical conductor does not need to be removed therefrom, prior to the contacting. Instead, an insulation displacement portion, which is provided with a blade or cutting edge, of the insulation displacement contact cuts during the contacting process through the insulation of the conductor, until the insulation displacement portion rests against the core of the conductor and forms an electrical connection therewith. The core of the conductor generally consists of an electrically conductive wire or wire mesh, for example made of copper, into which the insulation displacement portion is unable to significantly cut during the contacting process.
In order to mechanically secure the connection between the insulation displacement contact and conductor, the conductor is inserted into an insulation displacement channel, which tapers in its course is pointing in a contacting direction, in the said contacting direction. The insulation displacement channel is delimited on at least one side by the cutting edge of the insulation displacement arm. A wall, which also delimits the insulation displacement channel, or the cutting edge of a further insulation displacement arm can be arranged opposite the cutting edge. If the conductor is pressed further, after its insulation has been cut through, into the tapering insulation displacement channel in the contacting direction, then the insulation displacement contact and also the electrical conductor can undergo elastic deformation at least in certain portions, thus allowing the conductor to be held in a force-transmitting manner by the insulation displacement contact. As a result of the deformation, the insulation displacement channel is at least partially widened and the insulation displacement arm is forced away from the insulation displacement channel. Screwing or soldering of the conductor and the insulation displacement contact is generally not necessary.
Insulation displacement contacts have been used since the start of the 1970s, for example in the field of communications technology, for connecting signal lines. Since then, insulation displacement contacts have also been used in telephone line engineering and in service distribution boards. Connections between conductors and insulation displacement contacts can quite easily conduct electrical currents of up to 16 amps or more.
DE 199 45 412 A1 discloses an insulation displacement contact with two mutually opposing insulation displacement arms which delimit the insulation displacement channel. If the electrical conductor is now introduced into the insulation displacement channel, then the insulation displacement arms undergo deformation and are spread outward away from the insulation displacement channel. When an insulation displacement contact of this type is generally inserted into a housing, on the housing walls of which the insulation displacement arms are supported, the forces generated by the contacting process are transmitted to the walls of the housing.
As housing walls are being made narrower and narrower, for example in order to further miniaturise a contact arrangement, and thus lose rigidity unless further design measures are taken, the contacting forces may be sufficient to significantly deform the walls during the contacting process. This effect is intensified if the housing has a plurality of contact chambers, which are separated from one another by the walls, for insulation displacement contacts. These may be arranged transversely to the insulation displacement channel and next to one another in the direction of deformation of the insulation displacement arms. A contact arrangement having deformed housing walls can, for example, no longer be inserted into a contact assembly. Mechanical interfaces to other components, such as for example to covers for the contact chambers, can also be disturbed as a result so intensively that the components can no longer be connected to the housing.